Air Conditioning and Ventilation Contractors Insurance
Air conditioning and ventilation work sits across several risks that do not usually appear together. There is refrigerant, which is regulated, environmentally significant and requires certification to handle. There is water, because condensate and chilled water systems run through ceiling voids above finished offices. There is work at height, since condensers live on roofs. And there is fire stopping, because ductwork passes through fire compartment walls and something has to maintain that line.
Most claims in the trade are water. A blocked condensate drain or a failed connection above a suspended ceiling floods an office overnight, and the damage runs through ceiling tiles, carpets, IT equipment and the tenant's ability to trade. The refrigerant claims are rarer but come with regulatory consequences that ordinary property damage does not.
We arrange cover for air conditioning, refrigeration and ventilation contractors, and the elements worth being explicit about are your refrigerant certification, whether you carry out ductwork fire stopping, and whether any of your work involves cooling towers.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Water damage from condensate and chilled water
The most frequent claim. Condensate pumps fail, drains block and connections leak in ceiling voids directly above occupied offices. The discovery is usually the following morning, by which time ceilings, carpets, desks and IT equipment are affected and the tenant cannot work.
Refrigerant loss
Refrigerants are regulated substances with significant global warming potential, and handling them requires certification. A significant leak is a cost, a reporting obligation and potentially a regulatory matter, and the environmental element of it is generally not covered by a standard liability policy.
Working at height on plant
Condensers and air handling units are installed on roofs and in plant rooms, requiring craneage, roof access and work near fragile roof lights. Lifting units onto roofs is a distinct operation with its own exposures.
Ductwork and fire compartmentation
Ductwork passes through fire rated walls and floors, and each penetration must be correctly fire stopped or fitted with a fire damper. Missing or incorrectly installed dampers and unsealed penetrations undermine the building's compartmentation, and the consequence only appears in a fire.
Legionella in wet systems
Cooling towers and evaporative condensers carry legionella risk, which is subject to specific control requirements. Where you install, service or maintain such systems, the exposure is serious and is treated separately by insurers.
The cover we arrange
Policies are put together around how you work. Employers liability is included as standard wherever you employ anyone.
Public liability
Third party injury and property damage, dominated in this trade by water damage to occupied commercial premises and their contents. £5m is standard for commercial work and £10m common on larger contracts.
- Water damage to offices and contents
- Damage to IT equipment and stock
- Injury from falling plant or components
- Limits typically £5m or £10m
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. Roof access, plant rooms and lifting operations are the areas underwriters focus on.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Work at height and roof access
- Plant room and confined space work
- Labour only subcontractors
Contract works
Covers installation in progress, including plant delivered and awaiting installation. Condensers and air handling units are high value and are stolen from sites and roofs.
- Installation work in progress
- Plant and ductwork stored on site
- Theft of units and copper
- Damage during lifting and installation
Professional indemnity
Relevant where you design systems, size plant, or carry out inspections and reports that clients rely on for compliance. Increasingly requested on commercial mechanical subcontracts.
- System design and plant sizing
- Energy and inspection reporting
- Specification advice
- Claims made basis, run off available
Tools and equipment
Recovery machines, vacuum pumps, gauges, leak detectors, power tools and access equipment. Refrigerant recovery equipment is specialist and worth scheduling.
- Recovery and charging equipment
- Leak detection instruments
- Power tools and hand tools
- Vehicle conditions apply overnight
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Turnover split between installation, service and maintenance
- Whether you hold the relevant refrigerant handling certification
- The refrigerant types and system sizes you work with
- Whether you work on cooling towers or evaporative condensers
- Whether you install ductwork through fire compartment walls, and who fits fire dampers
- Whether you carry out fire stopping around penetrations
- Maximum working height and how roof plant is accessed and lifted
- Whether you design systems or work to designs by others
- Whether you carry out statutory inspections or energy assessments
- Five years of claims, particularly water damage
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
Installation or maintenance
Installation carries the lifting, height and fire stopping exposures. Maintenance carries more frequent, lower value water claims and more exposure to systems somebody else installed.
Building type and occupancy
Working above occupied offices and data rooms is the highest water exposure, because the contents beneath are valuable and the interruption is immediate.
Certification held
Refrigerant handling certification is a legal requirement for the work and is assumed. Breadth of certification and the qualifications of the team affect what can be covered.
Cooling towers and wet systems
Materially changes the risk profile because of the legionella exposure, and often requires a specific market rather than a standard contractors policy.
Water claims history
Frequency driven. Contractors who can evidence commissioning checks on condensate systems and a maintenance regime present considerably better.
Conditions and exclusions that catch this trade out
Terms vary between insurers, so treat these as the questions to ask rather than a description of any one policy.
Environmental and refrigerant release
The environmental consequences of a refrigerant release, including regulatory costs and the value of the lost gas, are generally outside a standard liability policy. Physical damage caused by the incident may be covered, but the environmental element usually is not.
Gradual water damage
A condensate drain that has been overflowing slowly for weeks may fall outside cover where the policy responds only to sudden and accidental damage. Since blocked drains fail gradually by nature, this is a real limitation in this trade.
The cost of correcting the installation
Re running a drain, re making a joint or repositioning a unit is your cost. The damage caused to the building and its contents is the claim.
Efficacy and performance
Where a system fails to achieve a specified temperature, air change rate or efficiency, that is a performance question rather than damage, and it is generally excluded. It becomes a professional indemnity matter where you designed or specified the system.
Legionella
Work on cooling towers and other wet systems with legionella potential is frequently excluded or restricted, and where it forms part of your work it needs specifically declaring and writing in.
Common questions
What insurance do air conditioning contractors need?
Public liability at £5m or £10m, since the typical claim is water damage to an occupied commercial building and its contents. Employers liability at £10m, a legal requirement and included as standard. Contract works for plant and ductwork on site, which are high value and frequently stolen. Tools cover including recovery and charging equipment. And professional indemnity where you design systems, size plant or produce reports clients rely on.
Am I covered if a condensate leak floods an office?
Damage to the building, ceiling, floor coverings, furniture and the tenant's equipment is normally a public liability claim, and it is the most common claim in this trade. Two things to watch. Repairing the drain or connection that failed is your own cost, not part of the claim. And if the leak developed gradually over weeks rather than suddenly, some wordings exclude it, because they respond to sudden and accidental damage. Given that blocked condensate drains fail slowly by nature, it is worth checking how your policy treats gradual damage.
Does my policy cover refrigerant loss?
Usually only partially. Physical damage caused by an incident may be covered, but the environmental consequences of a refrigerant release, the regulatory costs and the value of the lost gas itself generally are not. Refrigerants are regulated substances and handling them requires certification, which insurers assume you hold. If you work with large charge systems where a significant release is a realistic possibility, this gap is worth discussing specifically rather than assuming the liability policy deals with it.
Who is responsible for fire stopping around ductwork?
It depends on the contract, and that ambiguity is exactly the problem. Ductwork passing through a fire rated wall or floor breaches the compartmentation unless a fire damper or correct fire stopping maintains it. Sometimes the ductwork contractor fits it, sometimes a specialist fire stopping contractor does, and sometimes each assumes the other has. Because the failure only shows up in a fire, it is worth settling in writing who is responsible on each contract and keeping photographic records of penetrations before they are concealed.
Do I need special cover for cooling towers?
Almost certainly, and it should be raised at the outset. Cooling towers and evaporative condensers carry legionella risk, which is subject to specific statutory control requirements and can cause serious illness affecting people who were never on your site. Many standard contractors policies exclude or restrict work on such systems. Where this forms part of your business it usually needs a market comfortable with the exposure rather than a general policy, so declaring it early avoids finding an exclusion later.
Is craning a condenser onto a roof covered?
It needs checking, because it depends on how the lift is arranged. Under a contract lift the crane company plans and supervises the lift and carries the liability. Under a hired in crane with operator working under your direction, the lift plan and the liability for the load sit with you. Damage to the unit being lifted may also fall within the care, custody and control exclusion on public liability, so it needs to sit under contract works instead. A dropped condenser is a foreseeable event, so it is worth knowing which section would respond.
Talk to somebody who knows the trade
Tell us what you actually do and we will come back to you with cover options built around it.